Detroit Places:
Ribbon Farms

Cadillac began granting land to villagers in Fort Ponchartrain in 1707. Between March 1707 and June 28, 1710, he made some 150 land grants, including 68 village lots to private individuals, 31 farms and 13 gardens.

Ribbon farm was the name given to the original land grants given by Antoine Cadillac. The lots were typically up to 200 feet wide and up to 3 miles in length (the narrow width being parallel with the Detroit River).

Ribbon farm grants were free, but only in the sense that grantees didn't have to "buy" the land. There were plenty of rules and regulations, some of which resulted in payment or taxes being levied. Rules varied from grant to grant; some of these rules follow.

No hares, rabbits, pheasants or partridges on the property could be killed.

An annual rent was to be paid. Rates varied, from 5 livres to 5 livres 6 deniers (about $3.10).

A fee was charged for trading privileges (10 livres).

All grain was to be ground at Cadillac's mill at a charge of 8 pounds per minot (about a bushel).

Grantees were required to help erect an annual Maypole at Cadillac's home or pay 3 livres annually.

Grantees couldn't assume a trade that was reserved for Cadillac's artisans (this included blacksmith, armorer, cutler or brewer). Anyone could apply to Cadillac for a license in any of these trades. Joseph Parent's fee for a license to shoe horses was 600 livres, 2 hogsheads of all, and free shoeing for all of Cadillac's horses.

Improvements on the land had to begin within three months of ownership.

Granted land could not be sold or used as collateral without Cadillac's permission.

If the sale of granted land was approved by Cadillac, he was given the first opportunity to buy.

A fine of one-fourth the value of the land was charged to those who sold their land.

Grantees were to provide the village with timber for boats and fortifications when necessary.

Goods could be imported to the land, but any clerk used for this purpose had to be a resident of Fort Ponchartrain du Detroit.

Landowners were not permitted to sell liquour to Native Americans.

On St. Martin's day, a fee of a certain number of fowls, a certain dozen eggs and a certain measure of grain per arpent (land measure of the time) had be paid.

Articles

Glossary:Algonquin

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes (and others): Delaware, Fox, Huron, Miami, Ojibwa (Chippewa), Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sac, Shawnee and Winnebago.

Glossary:arquebus

A 39 pound (approximate) musket that two men would prop on a tri-pod and fire with a small torch. The arquebus was used by Champlain's men against the Iroquois to defend the Hurons. This may be the cause of decades of Iroquois abuse of the Hurons.

Glossary:clay and wattle

Building technique used in the construction of chimneys in the early days of Fort Ponchartrain. The technique involved piling sticks and packing them - inside and out - with clay and mud.

Glossary:Colbertism

Name for early French mercantilism in America, which Jean-Baptiste Colbert was influential in developing.

Glossary:conges

Trade permits issued by the Canadian government/court of France in the late 1600s to early 1700s.

Glossary:coureurs de bois

Very early French inhabitants of the current US and Canada who gave up their farmsteads for lives in the fur trade. They often lived with Native Americans.

Glossary:District of Hesse

Land district provisioned by the Canadian Council on July 24, 1788. The area was on the east side of the Detroit River.

Glossary:Fox

"Properly ""Mesh-kwa-ki-hug"". Native American tribe living in the area between Saginaw Bay and Thunder Bay at the time Detroit was founded. The French called the tribe Renyard. An allied tribe of the Sacs and Mascoutin."

Glossary:Huron

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.

Glossary:Iroquoian

General term sometimes used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca.

Glossary:Iroquois

"A Native American tribe known for antagonizing and brutalizing the Hurons (see also arquebus)"

Glossary:Mascouten

Native American tribe living in the Grand Traverse Bay area at the time Detroit was founded. An allied tribe of the Foxes and Sacs. Also spelled Mascoutin.

Glossary:Miami

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.

Glossary:Muskhogean

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek.

Glossary:New York Currency

First standard currency used in Detroit (first used in 1765).

Glossary:Ottawa

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.

Glossary:Outagamies

Native American tribe living in the Grand Traverse Bay area at the time Detroit was founded. An allied tribe of the Foxes (and Sacs?).

Glossary:Plains Indians

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, and Pawnee (Pani).

Glossary:Potawatomi

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.

Glossary:Quebec Act

Act of June 22, 1774, in which British Parliament decides to exercise English law in criminal cases and old French provincial law in civil cases in western settlements. The idea was to discourage people from settling in the west.

Glossary:Renyard

See Fox

Glossary:ribbon farms

Original land grants given by Cadillac. The lots were typically around 200 feet wide at the river front, with lengths up to 3 miles.

Glossary:Sac

See Sauk

Glossary:Sakis

See Sauk

Glossary:Sauk

Native American tribe living in the area between Saginaw Bay and Thunder Bay at the time Detroit was founded. The French called the tribe Sakis; English and Americans generally call them Sacs. An allied tribe of the Foxes/Renyards and Mascouten.

Glossary:Shoshonean

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Bannock and Shoshone.

Glossary:Treaty of Montreal

Treaty ending the war between the Iroquois and France and England. Negotiations began in July of 1698 and the treaty was signed in August of 1701.